Our eldest daughter, Danielle, graduated from the University of Illinois in 2009. She received a degree in International Studies but she also had a focus on French. After graduation from Illinois she decided to spend a year as an assistant English teacher in Orleans, France. The goal was to heighten her fluency in the French language. Now that she lives in a French speaking African country, it seems that decision served her well.
In the spring of 2010 Elise and I decided to visit her and we made a trip to Paris during Holy Week. So, what better place to attend Easter services than Notre Dame Cathedral?! We arrived somewhat early and Vespers services were going on prior to the main Easter services. So, we decided on a strategy of attending Vespers and getting a seat in the front row for Easter services. Great idea, right? Well, once Vespers were over, and just before Easter services began, an usher came up to us and essentially kicked us out of our seats, which had been reserved for some dignitaries. Well, by this time the Cathedral was completely full. We turned around and saw a sea of humanity staring at us. If that was not embarrassing enough, we had to scramble and climb over people to find seats…which were not together. Best laid plans of mice and men.
So, when I was reading today’s Gospel story, and Jesus’ parable about seating at the banquet, our trip to Notre Dame came to mind. In the parable Jesus relates the story of a guest at a banquet assuming a favored seat only to be told by the host that it was reserved for someone more important and the guest had to assume a lower seat. All in front of the rest of the guests. Boy, do I know how he must have felt! Instead, Jesus continues, you should take the lowest seat at the banquet so that the host will come to you and insist that you assume a higher status seating position. The moral? He who exults himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. Wish I had read this passage before going to services at Notre Dame.
In today’s first reading of St. Paul to the Romans, Paul gives a warning to the Gentiles who have accepted the Gospel message. The vast majority of Jews at that time had rejected the idea of Jesus as Messiah and His teachings. So the apostles, particularly Paul, had their focus on the conversion of the Gentiles. In the process there was a segment of the new converts who viewed the non-believing Jews with some degree of contempt and arrogance. But Paul rebukes them. He tells them that God has not rejected the Jews, His chosen people. He will not break the covenant that he made with Abraham and David.
Paul uses as support for his position the story of Elijah pleading with God (1 Kings 19:10-18). In the passage Elijah to some degree admonishes God for His support of the Jews after they have killed all the prophets and they have sent baals (false prophets) after Elijah to kill him. God’s response? He has reserved 7,000 Jews in Israel who have not bowed down to baal. They are a remnant of His chosen people. He has not turned His back on them. And so Paul uses the story to show the Gentiles that the Jews are still His people regardless of their hardness of hearts. In another section of the chapter, Paul compares the Jews as the root of a tree with some branches that have been broken. In their place the converted Gentiles have been grafted on. Their growth is dependent on the root that is the Jews. They cannot grow and develop without them. They need to remain humble in terms of their places in relationship with the Jews and not exalt themselves because they have accepted the Gospel message.
In fact, Paul is in a sense using the Gentiles to get to the Jews. He says that he hopes that the Jews will become jealous of the Gentiles for their belief, especially as a greater number of the Gentiles accept Christ. As a result of this jealousy the Jews will also come around to belief in the Gospel. He sees believing Jews as a sort of remnant that will spark wider belief.
We see this sense of a remnant in the Jews that were left in Jerusalem after the main group of Israelites were exiled into Babylon. This remnant remained and was there when King Cyrus of Persia allowed the captive Jews to return to Jerusalem 70 years later. In conjunction with the remnant, the city and the temple was rebuilt. Noah and his family was a remnant following the flood. The 7,000 remaining along with Elijah mentioned earlier in this reflection is a remnant for Israel.
And in a sense we are part of a remnant today. Over the 2,000 years since Christ there have been trillions, of people inhabiting the earth. But, obviously, not all have believed in Christ and the resurrection. In fact Matthew say in Matthew 7:13-14 that few will find their way to eternal life. Few will carry the Gospel message forward. Few will find their way to salvation. We see this in our world today. There are those who use others to get ahead. Those who sin and are successful. Many who don’t believe in Christ or God. Seems as if the number of believers dwindle each year…at least if we allow Church attendance to be an indicator. Those who persist in following the Word are a remnant. Given the task to proclaim the message of the Gospel and to live the message of the Gospel.
In the Hymn, “We Are Called”, the refrain says it all:
We are called to act with justice
We are called to love tenderly
We are called to serve one another
To walk humbly with God
May we be that remnant that serves others and walks humbly with God. And if you find yourself in Paris, and want to attend Easter services at Notre Dame (which is slated to be finished in 2024), I suggest you avoid the front row.
Oh, and for those of you wondering about the title of this reflection, it is based on a very funny commercial featuring former Major League baseball player and commentator named Bob Uecker. Miller Lite Commercial
